The Board of Education is proposing a $852+ spending plan.
Frederick, Md. (NS) – According to Frederick County Board of Education President Brad Young, Frederick County needs to give teachers a raise in order to attract more educators to the area.
Young said Maryland produces fewer teachers than it hires every year, so talent has to be brought in from out-of state. He added, Frederick County Public Schools has to be more attractive to compete with surrounding counties.
“It’s become a competitive issue of not enough teachers. In Frederick County we hire around 400 teachers every year and again we struggle to find those teachers as other counties are hiring as well,” Young explained.
The Board recently approved a spending plan totaling more than $852 million.
Young said the majority of the increased cost is compensating for inflation and increasing teacher salaries.
“As you know, this year inflation has gone up substantially, and one of our biggest costs we have is fuel. We have a lot of buses out on the road and in fact those costs have gone up. If we don’t get any increases, then any of those additional costs have to come from somewhere else and so part of going above maintenance effort is just dealing with the fact that you have inflation and costs go up,” he said.
Young added that Frederick County is an expensive place to live, so teachers need to be paid more to incentivize them to live and work here.
